The Gershwin Songbook

vocal jazz at its best. her timbre is so sharp yet so smooth. happy to have listened to these classics.

Beautiful voice

I liked what I could hear of it (40-50 minutes). Ella Fitzgerald's voice is so beautiful and sunny. Potayto potato song is such fun. But honestly I don't think I can listen to it for 3 hours. So I'm just gonna give it the website average.

Not really my thing, but very nice singing.

We'll start at 3/5, the rating of an average album. -1 for album length. Listen, I'm all for a compilation album, but not on a list like this one. You might as well put in compilation albums by other greats, like the Beatles' "1", Led Zeppelin's "Mothership", Queen's "Greatest Hits"... but those would (in some cases) also be too long, and for that reason I'm glad they aren't included. Ella Fitzgerald doesn't get a pass. In fact, out of protest, I only listened to 40 minutes of the album on shuffle, and the rest of the review is dedicated to those 40 minutes. +1 for gorgeous vocals. Ella Fitzgerald's singing is smooth, lilting, well enunciated, and just all-around fantastic. She's definitely material for a "top 10 vocalists of all time" list, even if lots of online critic articles seem to disagree. -1 for bringing nothing new to the music scene. By the late 50s, rock, skiffle, and experimental jazz were experiencing revolutions, and in terms of sheer creativity, Fitzgerald's style of music can't quite compete. It doesn't help that nearly all the songs on the album are in the same style and mood. Add to that the fact that none of these songs are originals, and you have a set of material that's not quite deserving of a spot on a list of the 1001 most important albums. +1 for atmosphere. There's something so indescribably charming and beautiful about soft brass, a laid-back rhythm section, and jazzy harmonies and melodies. You can all too easily lose yourself in the music if you're not careful. It's hypnotic. 3/5 Key tracks: The Man I Love, Embraceable You, They Can't Take That Away From Me

Too long

Eins manns roadtrip frá Boston til New Jersey var fullkominn tími til að hlusta á þessa plötu. Hún er frekar löng. Ok. Mjög löng. Þrír klukkutímar og verður svolítið endurtekningarsöm en í réttum fíling eibs og ég var í bílferðinni er hún frábær. Ég set hana örugglega aftur á en þá aldrei í heild sinni og síðasta disknum má alveg sleppa

Wow, that is a long one. That’s what she said!! I got through it all though. It was tiring but not because of the music and her voice. It was all good.

Ella's voice is amazing, but listening to 3 hours of this is completely obnoxious.

Beautiful voice, incredible array of songs. Minus points for compilation and covers.

I love jazz, but I always struggle with jazz with singers. Don't get me wrong, Ella Fitzgerald has a great voice, but the music is serving her voice (which is totally understandable) but what I like the most in jazz is the music itself. Not as a background. And it also tends to be smoother than other subgenres, and I like my jazz with edges. So, it's OK but I'm not too fond of it. Also, it's way too long. A shorter version would have get probably 4 stars, but gosh, that was too much for me.

5 stars for Ella herself, but 3 for having a giant compilation on the list. I found an album under the same title on Youtube that only had 12 tracks, and I would've given that version a 4 or 5.

Amazingly produced album, sounds incredible and Ella's voice is legendary. Overall a beautiful album, just not my taste. (and insanely long)

Yeah, im not listening to this entire "album." It is good with so I may revisit the remaining disc's when I'm done with the list.

I listened to it all - it took 2 weekends - just hard to devote that much time. It's not an album! But it is good I enjoyed it

J'ai l'impression que cet album est plus ici du au travail impressionnant que ça a du prendre pour réaliser un tel album, plus que la qualité de la musique. Loin d'être mauvais, c'est très long et répétitif et d'avoir autant de chansons similaires sur 3h15 de temps diminue l'impact de chacune. Ce n'est pas comme 69 Love Songs où il y a beaucoup plus de variations d'une pièce à l'autre. 5.5/10

Great voice. Good music. Too long drops a star.

3☆/5 08.21.2024

Ella Fitzgerald has an amazing voice, but this “album” is 2 hours too long

More Ella Fitzgerald than I ever really asked for. Not going in depth on anything because the album is 3 hours long. Not really an album, more like a collection/boxset imo. I got rythym is a classic, the rest vary from listenable to good--there isn't any trash here. The worst songs of the album were the instrumental pieces because it was the same as the previous 3 hours just without Fitzgerald's voice (the only reason you would still be listening at this point). Since this one is so weird I'll give it a 3/5 overall--no 5/5 songs, a solid bit of 4/5s spread throughout, and the rest are 3/5s (except the instrumentals, how dare you give me instrumentals at the end of a 3 hour album--1/5s for all of those songs for even thinking to include them)

I have to say that I am extremely disappointed when I saw that this is more than 3 hours, as it has 6 Disks (!!!), but it's alright, not too bad. It is very outdated because this is from 1959 but it's a nice relatively jazzy (sometimes) background listen, so if you don't want to listen or watch anything else while you're doing stuff throughout your day, this is an okay album.

Yeah old shiz

Great voice but 3 and a bit hours of it is too much in one sitting.

I'm not sure what to do with this. Is Ella Fitzgerald a great singer, yes. Do I have time to listen to a 3+ hours, 6 disc boxset album? Probably. But do I want to? Not really. I ended up listening to disc 1 and parked it. I may revisit on some rainy Sunday, today wasn't the day.

Listening to this you feel like you are in a Disney movie. But my god 3 hours is too long!

There is no denying that Ella is in the top three jazz singers of all time, but I'm a little disappointed by this album. First, she didn't write any of this. Second, despite the fact that some of the greatest songwriters in the country to that point wrote everything, it lacks a lot of variety. There are a lot of unique songs, but when you have other three hours of content a lot of it is going to blur. Third, I don't think she gave herself many or really any songs that really highlight the full range of her potential. She's great, this is not her best.

6/10. It features a lot of really nice jazz songs. However, I wish that it wasn't over three bloody hours long.

It does not become stale with a duration of more than 3 hours which is a hard thing to accomplish

Long

I can’t imagine any album on this list is going to be longer than this one. Would be a good record to listen to if you were making pasta from scratch or something but ultimately it was just background noise to me.

I love me some Ella but this is just too much Gershwin for one listen. Great background music for sure but I just don't appreciate it otherwise.

She sings like old-school Christmas songs, which I like. Praise that person on youtube that uploaded a 40-min selection of this because the full thing is enormous. Stand-out: Beginner's Luck (I've Got)

on the one hand, it's self evidently really good. on the other hand, 3 hours of it is way way too much and i will die on the hill that this is not an 'album.' split the difference and call it a 3

After unknowingly listening to the first 5 discs while tinkering away at work I thought I surely had ventured out of the album and into the spotify suggested playlist. To my suprise, the album was still playing! I am proud to say I listened to the whole thing without giving up, but I can't say I really enjoyed it. My tolerance for this type of music runs out after about an hour then everything blends together and I lose interest. Despite the 3 hour run time, Ella's voice is phenomenal and the songs are well composed for the time. I likely would only listen to this again as background music (for a fancy home cooked meal perhaps)

It certainly is too long for repeated listens - but essential to do so at least once....

Too long, can’t listen to it all.

Never heard this before. Should Box Sets be included in this list? I mean there is 3 1/2 hours of music in this album! This is good, but I'd be more likely to give it 4 or 5 stars if they focused on a dozen of the best songs.

You get what you expect, quality varies (you can tell some songs were written in 2 minutes the lyrics are laughable)

Great music but a bit long as a stand alone album I did struggle to get through it in a couple of sittings

My favourite book, you ask? Well that must be the collected works of Goethe. Next question. Is this an album? Is this the best way to enjoy Ella Fitzgerald? Gershwin? Does anything make sense? This entry hits at my main qualm with the 1001 albums book/project. The completist insistence on the album format is quite rock centric, and simply does not work within a lot of other genres, or really before the rock album became a thing. I could just skip this one, but felt like writing, so had to rate.

This album is getting a 3. Ella Fitzgerald’s music is beautiful. Probably deserving of a 4 but quite literally couldn’t get myself to listen to all 3 hours of this. Maybe around Christmas time or some shit but I couldn’t do it. I’m moving on

3.5 stars

I did listen to the whole thing, all six “discs” over two days, and although I love Ella’s voice, that is just a LOT for this type of list.

Soooooo loooooong

Soft and gentle - it's as if nothing bad could ever happen in the world when you listen to this. I like that feeling. Yes, it's very long - but I enjoyed the nostalgic warmth of this - the Bose speaker became a softly burning candle in the corner of the room.

I ended up having this on for a couple hours (discs 1-3) whilst coding my interview. A bit dated, especially on the songwriting and structure front, but she has a great voice and the music matches her well to create a very warm atmosphere. It’s like sitting in an armchair before a warm cosy fireplace with a mug of cocoa. I do think this isn’t much of an album, in the sense that we think of albums today, but it was a good listen nonetheless. Don’t think many songs will enter my rotation, hence the score, but I did enjoy this :D.

I was ready to go in guns blazing about the 3 hour runtime but this album is very pleasant indeed. Great voice, fun lyrics, smooth and relaxing music. If I had to describe it in one word, it would be ‘charming’. Definitely far too long, but I listened to the whole 3 hours while I was working on a warm sunny day and it made for a very peaceful Monday. Favourite songs: They All Laughed, Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off

Songs from the 20's and 30's performed from one of the best singers in 1959. Fat Big Band sound.

She's got a fantastic voice. Absolutely timeless. Definitely for background music however. 3 hours of it straight is far too much.

I do love Ella's voice but I feel these songs does do it justice.

What a pleasant voice.

Love Ella Fitzgerald’s voice, and the music is good. It’s just hard to sit through this much music in one sitting. As an album experience it’s just too much, but I can imagine if listen to over the course of multiple sessions I would’ve enjoyed it more. However my rating is based on listening to the whole album in one day.

I really enjoy Ella Fitzgerald's voice, but no way am I going to listen to 3+ hours of this. I listed to a 45 min "Very Best Of..." compilation twice instead. It's great and sets a mood well enough, but as with a lot of 50s music, I don't have a lot of patience for it personally. It's very obviously from a different time, and us enjoyable under the right conditions.

4 hours and 13 minutes? Thank you sir, may I have another? I ran it as long as I could in the background while I did my morning routine. This is music from my parents' generation. World War II. I'm sure it made a difference to many back then. I don't hate it but I've got a life to live this morning. You say "comprehensive", I say "too long", let's call the whole thing off.

I liked it, it's like a window into another time.

The first thing I'll say is that this album is extremely long (3 hours). I actually like the songs on it. It's a pity that they sound a bit too similar to each other. Fitzgerald is a great singer and the tracks written by the Gershwin Brothers are nice. One piece of advice listening to this record is that you should take a break every 20 songs or so. 3 stars for "EFStGaIGSB".

Lekker voor op de achtergrond. Wel een boel nummers op een album. Maarliefst 73!!!

This isn’t necessarily my style of music, and I’m also a little freaked out by the length, but let’s see how this goes. Holy cow But Not For Me is an absolutely stunning ballad with an outstanding vocal from Ella. So far from the first few songs I’m running into the issue I expected, which is that this isn’t my genre and I’m struggling to distinguish between the different songs. Ok Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off is pretty damn funny admittedly.

Ella’s voice is flawless! Her ability to dance around the music is unreal. This album in particular is unbelievably long at 3hrs14mins. By the end I had a bit of Ella fatigue. I think I would consume it in chunks next time.

Es ist ein solides Album, das eine frische Interpretation von Gershwins Klassikern bietet. Die Titel sind anfangs sehr interessant, wiederholen sich jedoch im Verlauf des Albums, was bei der Länge etwas ermüdend wirken kann. Besonders hervorzuheben sind die Zupfelemente, die den Stücken eine besondere Note verleihen. Insgesamt ein gutes Album für Jazzliebhaber, aber ohne „have to hear‘s“.

I like Ella Fitzgerald, and I like the Gershwins... but do I like them enough to listen to their music for 3 hours straight?? This was fine. Ella Fitzgerald's voice is amazing, and her skills really shine here. As a full album though it was just too long. It was too easy to stop really listening and just tune it out as background music. I enjoyed it, but I doubt I would listen to the whole thing again.

5/10 Swell 7-5-2024

Love her voice but 3hrs of anything is too much in one go

Enjoyed what I listened to of this

Listen to most of the songs fully, and the ones I didnt like halfway. I like American songbook in rom coms and christmas films, not in 3 hour long albums.

Really good, but too fuckin long... prob managed about half of it but was enjoyable

Listened to the first half of this, and it was good. But , 3+ hours? Wise up ffs

Good album. I didn't hate roughly 3 hours of classic Gershwin songbook music. It's relatively easy listening, and Ella Fitzgerald is dynamite. It has it's time and place. ***

Timeless? Yes. Bloody lengthy? Very much so. Do two sort of cancel each other out? I have pretty mixed feelings.

Can’t believe this album is 74 years old this year. Woah

A very lovely set of songs. Quite long though. It ended up being background music while I did other things. I did very much enjoy this album.

I put this on as background music unlike the other albums so far. It was beautiful, it was sometimes fun, EF's voice is amazing. I do have a limited attention span for Gershwin though.

Felt very tempted to start tap dancing in the middle of the street. Only listened up to disc 4. The band carried several songs and the lyrics became formulaic rather quickly. I liked the disc 1 the best

it's Ella

Did I have to listen to what may be the entire songbook? Fiztgerald's voice is stunning and the arrangements of the songs are tasteful but did it need to be *this* long? Also, can I blame her for all of the awful "Classic American Song Book" albums that artists who are over 70 or faded boy band members constantly pump out? This album has raised far too many questions. Best Tracks: Best Tracks: But Not For Me; Someone To Watch Over Me; Love Is Here To Stay

Who isn’t familiar with Ella? Remaining a “timeless” artist is impressive in its own right…but not normally my cup of tea. I claim to have a broad taste in music, so worked to go into this with an open mind. On this album, the backing band and Gershwins also star, but Ella definitely shines through. Who else could sing it like her? I just don’t particularly like some of these songs.

Erm.... Were we meant to listen to all 3 hours? I got to 2 hours, and thought I'd extracted everything I could. Very nice voice, well crafted comfy songs... could not do three hours. If reviewed as a brief album, I'd probably say "yeah brilliant!" but it outstayed its welcome by the second "disc"... Tricky to rate, as that was kind of the point of a box set, and it's a great archive of american songbook stuff too, amazing voice etc... something historical more than something to enjoy for me. Nutritional.

Too long

Beautiful voice, beautiful lyrics, and beautiful music....but way way way too much... Halfway through the second disc, I just zoned it all out and it became department store background noise. Certain songs would bring me back slightly (They All Laughed, I Got Rhythm) because of Fitzgerald's voice, not the composers. But it just all started to blend together and turn it into an experience I just wanted to end. This is made for someone that either eats and breathes Fitzgerald or Gershwin, for me as a casual listener it made me actually like it less the longer it went, which is a travesty since her voice is so amazing! I honestly don't know if I like any band or composer that I would want to listen to 6 albums of their music in a row without some variety mixed in. And maybe that is part of the problem, Gershwin doesn't write enough variety in their music, it all starts to sound the same over and over.

I am not doing all that. From what I listened to, it’s fine.

Yes the album is long, but it’s incredibly listenable. In fact, I split up my listening over 2 days. The day after I got this album, I had to listen to Leonard Cohen. Returning to this was a breath of fresh air. That said, a lot of the songs have similar sounds and themes. There is certainly room to filter some songs out here. Additionally, I’m docking a point for the song about being a little girl looking for her little boy. Yuck. Why do 50s and 60s albums seem to love the little boy/little girl lyric??

I like this album for the collection of vocal jazz classics that it is, but it's really not music I'll ever be super excited about. And 3 hours of Ella Fitzgerald is way more than I ever want to listen to at once. Nothing on it that I disliked though, so it's a pretty even 3/5 for me.

Damn, dude. That's so much. I got through it though, and Ella is lovely. I might rate any individual one higher, but 3h 15m of music is too much. 3/5

Ella Fitzgerald has a beautiful voice, and I like a lot of these songs But over 3 hours is way too long of an album, and I started feeling bored. Honestly it was feeling like a chore towards the end So for that reason its a 3 ⭐️

I like Ella a lot. This album is just really long. The kind of thing I might put on for a dinner party or something. But not to sit down and listen to. Im sorry ella :(

Good, not my vibe.

one of the many funny artifacts of trying to fit popular music history into an album-loyalist box. This isn't an album to listen to. It's an archive. Listen to a few at a time on shuffle. Have your high school big band check out the Ella Fitzgerald version when you're working on an arrangement. each song individually: probably 3 stars. album all in a row: negative 3 stars. albums: hated. (⌐■_■)

okay this album is over 3 hours long. I obviously did not listen to all of this. I only played the songs that had over 1 million listens. With that said, those songs were solid. Ella does this style very well. Definitely would need to be in a certain mood to give this a listen.

Beautiful music. Far too many songs to try and enjoy in a short period.

prima leuk wel erg lang

Nice collection of songs

I couldn't bring myself to listen to all 3 hours of this 6 disc(!) set. I listened to the first 2 discs and enjoyed what I heard but 6 discs is just too many for 1 sitting and honestly after 2 discs I get the point.

Lots and lots and lots (3+ hours worth) of lovely songs by Ella. Wow this Gershwin guy was prolific

Until today, I've had this running joke with my group that only I've told that we weren't going to get an album longer than 69 LOVE SONGS. As far as I knew, that was the longest album in the book, standing at 172 minutes. It was gonna be the closest we ever got to three hours. After all, I knew the 1001 ALBUMS book didn't have mega-epic, 250-plus-minute box sets like AMERICAN ANTHOLOGY OF FOLK MUSIC or James Brown's STAR TIME, so once we got that we'd be in the clear. Then today happened. We got this album. And my jaw dropped a little. Look, let's make this clear: I don't have a problem with Ella Fitzgerald's voice. She's a lovely voice, beautiful. 100% deserved the shout out she got in Stevie Wonder's "Sir Duke". I don't have a problem with George and Ira Gershwin. Or the Great American Songbook for that matter, or jazz standards in general. I still occasionally spin Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga's CHEEK TO CHEEK album, and I really love "Anything Goes", the title track and "I Can't Give You Anything But Love". I don't even have a problem with the arrangements. I like myself a fair bit of vocal jazz and traditional pop every once in a while. Look at how much I liked the Frank Sinatra album my group got—and again, there's CHEEK TO CHEEK. My problem with this album, simply and solely, lies in its crushing length: **THREE HOURS AND FOURTEEN MINUTES**. That's longer than Prince's EMANCIPATION. I have no idea why they decided to record so many of these things except that they could. And truthfully, from the moment I saw its length, I knew I wasn't gonna bother listening to the whole thing. And I didn'! I heard from "Sam & Delilah" to "The Real American Folk Song (Is A Rag)", and then after that I just listened to a 40-some minute compilation from 2007. 'Cuz seriously, even listening to only the first hour of this got a bit excruciating. I don't hate this sound, but there **can** be too much of a good thing. Like, by the time I got to "Just Another Rhumba" and I heard "September" pronounced as "Septumba," I really wanted to just stop. I'd more than had my fill of Ella siiiiiiingiiiiing mooost of the sooooooongs like thiiiiiiiiiis. But there was still twenty minutes left, so—! One of the people actually did manage to sit through the whole thing. I can't begin to fathom how they did it. As I'm writing this, it's hours before we can share our reviews, so I don't know what they think of this, but I can imagine they're all too positive about the length either. Even beyond its length not every song on here is a winner. Like, some of them hafta be obscure for a reason, y'know? Again, I point to "Just Another Rhumba". Or the one that I read has the damn 20th Century fanfare. Or they're just plain indistinguishable from each other and blend together. Even on the 2007 "very best of" compilation they kind of do, but at least there there's only 12 songs and not **a billion**. And that's **still** the best way to listen to this material. Of course, by all means, if you wanna go digging through this set to find your own "very best of," be my guest. (Hell, I know I'm probably gonna do the same thing whenever I **do** get around to Prince's EMANCIPATION.) Or if you've already done it—good for you! I'm glad you were able to discover something in there that I didn't, seriously. For my money, however, I just don't have the time or patience. Ella's voice is generally too good to give this any less than a three, but believe me—I could. At least now I no longer fear 69 LOVE SONGS as much as I did before. Hell, I'll embrace it, even! The sweet, sweet feel of **SLIGHTLY UNDER** three hours. Oh, it'll be so nice.

This is one of those albums that you know shouldn't have listened to in one session. But I did it anyway, and now I regret it a little. But anyways, this is mostly just your standard vocal jazz act from the 50s but stretched out over way longer of a runtime. At least I liked The Real American Folk Song, though.

Ładne, ale o jakieś 2,5 h zbyt długie. Przez to wszystko brzmi tak samo i potem zlewa się w bezkształtną masę. 3/5

59 songs, 3 hours and 15 minutes... Yikes! Thankfully I got this on a Friday, I listened to the first 3 discs, and I think I get it. Most of the songs could be sang over the same music, but the lyrics are mostly fun and light. She has a wonderful voice, the music is mostly repetitive. This is peak lounge music in my eyes. I enjoyed it in that context. 3.5/5

It's good, it's pretty, it's a time capsule, but it's SO long. Felt like sitting down on a saturday to watch every single Star Wars movie without stopping. Even if a few are bangers it's still an insane amount of time.

Absolute marathon. This was really enjoyable to listen to. It is kinda cheating though because it’s more of a compilation than an album. Also the length means I likely won’t listen to the whole thing again.

that run time though

Look. I ain't listening to all that. But its Ella Fitzgerald so even if I didn't listen to it it deserves a 3 as a minimum.

Closer to a 2. Objectively well-recorded and well-performed music...but be cautious of the run-time

Five discs. I couldn't do it.

Lovely voice and Gershwin is a classic

What do you want from me? There are dozens of Ella albums that aren’t on this list that could replace this easily. This is NOT a good album. It is a confusingly long collection of great songs. Ella, go ahead and sing some of the Gershwin songs, BUT 3 HOURS WORTH!!! I suppose I see the appeal. Maybe theater nerds would get excited over this. Don’t get me wrong, Ella kills it on every track, but for there to be that many tracks. Also, why are the last six songs instrumentals by some fucking Nelson Riddle asshole. Bring Ms. Fitzgerald back. For Ella, perfection as always (except for the part where she okayed this length). For the production team, nothing. They get nothing from me. 3/5

I like Ella, but this was a lot, and too much Gershwin for me

Technically perfect, if not particularly compelling. This is a pretty comprehensive collection for fans of the Gershwins and the Great American Songbook. The collection certainly has a number of gems to be found on it, but there are also so, so many skippable songs. Ultimately it's a lot to take and much of it becomes a blur after 3 hours. Fave Songs: But Not for Me; Someone to Watch Over Me; Let's Call the Whole Thing Off; They Can't Take That Away from Me; Our Love Is Here to Stay; 'S Wonderful; Oh, Lady Be Good!; Embraceable You; I Got Rhythm

3 hours and 15 minutes??? what the actual fuck?

This is an unfair inclusion in a list of albums to listen to before you die because this is a box set. It is a collection of 59 recorded covers of songs by George and Ira Gershwin, done as part of Ella Fitzgerald's ambitious attempt to cover the entire Great American Songbook canon. For my sanity, I listened to The Very Best of the Gershwin Songbook compilation which is 12 tracks for a runtime of 45 minutes. I will say, Ella's delivery and improvisation are remarkable over these well-constructed show tunes. Perhaps this compilation would have been a better inclusion than the 3-hour original box set. Alas, what we get is what we get.

Too much. I like Ella Fitzgerald but not for 3 hours and 19 minutes.

This is way, way too long. I literally don't have time to listen to it all. I managed to get halfway through, but honestly I don't think I'm missing anything by not listening to the rest. Ella has a great voice and the music is pleasant, but I wouldn't go out of my way to listen to any of this.

I'm sure the "great American songbook" is culturally significant for mid-century jazz aficionados, and I can't deny Ella Fitzgerald has a beautiful voice, however the overuse of this type of music in film had me thinking I was stuck in a Christmas rom-com movie while listening on my way to work. A 5 CD compilation is excessive except for the most dedicated fans, I listened to the first one & while there are some great tracks, that was enough for me. Probably good for background music while wrapping Christmas presents or bumping into your high school sweetheart while visiting your small home town over the holidays & getting stranded there by a snowstorm

Amazing singer considering the tech of her time.

I made it about half way through this. Not listening to all 8 hours. It’s decent, but not spectacular.

Nice sounding songs, no particular highpoints, great for using as background music because it lasts way too long.

Loveeee some classics and this was iconic. This sounds expensive but I could not get through more than 1 disc

I listened to only the first disc, this album is a lot of music! I loved the classic orchestration the big band feel and of course Ella's beautiful voice but definitely need to be in the mood to listen to the whole thing and unfortunately I wasn't this time. One day I will get through it.

As always, a lovely and wonderful voice. The big band is blastin them trumpets and pairing the essential accoutrements. However, the length here does not present a tidy and digestible foray into the music. We are left with some well written and sung classics, but with too much to offer.

2.75/3 (I listened to the condensed 45 minute version) Ella Fitzgerald's voice is gorgeous and I enjoyed listening to this in the background while working, but I am quickly learning that this era of music is not for me. Standout tracks: The man I love - 4/5 Someone to watch over me 5/5 - preferred her version to Sarah Vaughan's They can't take that away 4/5

Low on the ella list

Love her voice of course, I just don’t love show tunes

Ella can get it going, and some of these songs are timeless. But others are kinda boring in my opinion. I’m glad she made this album, but she’s got more in her collection that will find my speed. She’s one of the best of her era, and in the top 10 female voices of all time.

förlåt men jag tänker inte sitta i tre timmar och lyssna, sååå

Fallout jazz, good but feels repetitive ?

Ella - kompletely out of discussion. The album - claims to be an encyclopedia of Gershwins's work. Phantastic, but I think it's well posisinoed in the bookshelf.

Ok, so, I will be honest, this was on in the background whilst doing work. I really went through most emotions, enjoyment, initially to the first disc and a half. Then apathy for the next hour, to finally not being able to wait until it was over. I think overall it was nice, but I couldn’t imagine just listening to this without doing anything else. Torture.

Yes: nice. No: I did not listen the entire 3 hours of music at once.

Excellent background music for making supper

Classic and beautiful. Just WAY too long to listen the whole way through!

I aint listening to allat

Pretty good

Sorry Ella, I did an hour or so but nobody has more than 3 hours to spend on a 6 disc album. The curator of the book needs a bit of a slap for this one.

Another one for the "glad I listened to it, but won't be going back to it" pile.

Amazing songbook and lovely timeless voice. This album is 3 hours long though. Come on.

This was fine, but so so so long. At least it wasn't 3.5 hours of Everything but the Girl or Massive Attack.

3 hours ffs Wasn’t too bad in the end just had it on as background listening

Great voice, production, and direction.Though for some reason, I'm not grabbed by this much. Maybe it requires more listening.

Would listen again. Dont feel I gave it all enough time to sink in and percolate. Was hard to single out one arrangement or song that stood out becaise the production, accompaniment, and vocal techniques are all pretty uniformed across each tune...so without acclimating to it more, it somewhat runs together for me. Still very pleasant and supple tones and attitude.

classic. slow. beautiful

That was a lot of songs

not usually in my rotation but I love Ella's voice

Wonderful singing. Great arrangements. Nice music. But George is a better composer than Ira is a lyricist. To me, the lyrics often seem forced, and in an effort to be clever they just come off as trite. I kept finding myself distracted from the music because the lyrics’ banality would get in the way.

Jazz, Swing, 1959 -> 3

Lovely because it’s Ella Fitzgerald!

Great voice - would put on to seem sophisticated at a dinner party. Doesn't give me the "feels" though.

Struggling to decide between 4 stars and 3 stars, so I gusss it's another 3.5. Ella's voice has become synonymous with jazz. If you think of jazz with a vocalist, you're automatically thinking of her voice. It's always a pleasure to listen to her

I know I’m down on all the songwriters from the 50s and 60s whose songs these black women had to sing. I mean, taste was different, and reality was reality and I took enough American studies and African-American literature courses in university to recognize the power and revolution still possible from within the constraints of one’s time. but the songs feel me with sadness as much for the unrealized potential of Ella on her own, singing outside these boxes, as I am for the Gershwin heartbreaks she’s giving so much life to. Time was, I suppose, and I certainly hope time will be again, someday.

Lovely voice but felt myself tuning out.

So, the version I linked to was only 45 minutes. I realized after seeing some other reviews mentioning it going on for hours that I listened to "the very best of" version. I'm sticking to that. While it's wonderful to hear Ella sing, I don't feel that she meshed with Gershwin. Probably an unpopular opinion considering this albums stature. There are several great songs, but most of them I know another version that I like better. Ella sounds great though. I like Ella, I like George, but this mix isn't working for me. I'm not going to come back to this, but I wouldn't object to hearing it again.

Okay so I really didn’t know who Ella Fitzgerald was but it turns out she’s like.. super versatile Gershwin Songbook is deff more pop heavy than some of her jazzier stuff, but this is like peak pop music Upon seeing the full compilation, I ended up rolling with the 44 min version, and although it’s shorter than the full sound book, I was a bit overwhelmed as is. Regardless, this album was so calming in a time where I’m stressed out to the gills. Samuel gonna bash for being Bambi Esque music but it’s a banger

Generally boring to me

Hey not bad. Not my cup of tea but still enjoyable

Great bluesy album

Meh

Really good album!

LIKE: The Man I Love RECOGNISE: -

It's a slow sleepy album but her voice is so good

She’s got dobedobapdobebo, who could ask for anything more? Annunciates so well you’d be able to hear it if you were deaf. Beautiful tone. Definitely have heard her influence in other music. Fiona Apple comes to mind for someone more recent. The musical atmosphere created in A Foggy Day is great. Her lower register is so solid and clear but her higher notes are so pretty and moving, I want more of them. She’s impressive!

It was really good and I liked it

this is great study music, very slow and melodic, can almost forget that you're listening to something.

Made me feel like I was at my grandmas house. But listened to it all…interesting change of pace.

personally don't like jazz, but some songs in here were close to changing my mind. incredible singing in every song. however it is unfair to compare this to many other albums in this list since it's a compilation album and it's over 3 hours long. the quality should earn this a 4, but this is way too long

She had a fantastic voice, but this is far too polished for my tastes. It sounds more like the soundtrack to a Disney film then a showcase for a generational vocal talent.

Kankerlang

This is a lot of music. Very much not my style, but it's nice background music. Next time I'm hosting gay men 'of a certain age' I know my soundtrack now.

It's a great album. You could call it a Greatest Hits album right? No, these aren't supposed to be on this list. Oh, but they aren't her hits. She is singing Gershwin's hits.... three hours of it... On it's own I'd give it a 5/5. But no, not for this list. 3/5

A good, relaxing album. Ella Fitzgerald's voice is amazing.

If you like Gershwin you’ll like this. I don’t mind Gershwin but over 2 hours was a bit much for me.

Beautiful music, just not my taste. Could definitely see people going berserk over this in the 50s.

Again just struggled to get into it but neither bad nor great

Ella Fitzgerald grabó en 1959 una colección de 59 canciones compuestas por George e Ira Gershwin. Aquí se recogen 12 temas en los que se puede apreciar la extraordinaria voz de la cantante de jazz. Incluye canciones imprescindibles como "Oh, Lady Be Good", "'S Wonderful" y "The Man I Love".

She's a great singer, but the voice I know and love is slightly wasted on these slow, crooning ballads.

another great vocal performance. The big band vibe and slowness meant all the tracks sounded a bit samey to me

Great music and great voice, but then it went on and on for 3 hours...

Clearly a beautiful and influential singer. Enjoyed this combination of her tracks

Good vocal Jazz! Listened to the first two CDs only though.

Liked it better than I thought I would.

Loved her soothing voice!

3.5

Showtunes aren't generally my thing, but you can't deny this woman's beautiful voice, and the arrangements are great for the most part. But you gotta also really love Gershwin tunes to love listening to three plus hours of this. I don't get why the instrumental stuff was here. "My Cousin in Milwaukee" was one of the tracks that stood out to me. I liked the wordplay.

I Got Rhythm - 8/10 Oh, Lady Be Good - 8/10 Nice Work If You Can Get It - 7.5/10 The Man I Love - 8/10 Love Is Here To Stay - 7.5/10 But Not For Me - 7.5/10 A Foggy Day - 7.5/10 Someone To Watch Over Me - 7/10 Fascinating Rhythm - 6/10 Embraceable You - 7/10 They Can’t Take That Away From Me - 8/10 ‘S Wonderful - 7/10 TOTAL - 73/120

Voice holds pure crystal Notes, silence breathes, piano Dances beneath sound

Hard to rate as it's so (too) long and tbh i listened to the best of on Spotify. The voice is magical but its all a bit nice.

Still have some work to do to complete this 4 album box set, but going to move on anyway. Classic voice. Classic songs. Going to change up my rating scale slightly. While I wouldn’t choose to put this one on again on my own, I respect it all too much to give less than a 3. It’s really good for what it is.

I listened to the Very Best of the Gershwin Song Book (2007), there's also a four CD set (!) that I haven't heard all of. Ella's voice is great and the songs have a nostalgic quality but this just isn't making me want to revisit it straight away. Can't go higher than ***

She has a very beautiful voice, and imagine the music was very impressive for its time, but it’s just not my thing I get very bored with music like this

So far so good. This album had a nostalgic feel and took me back to my disney watching days. I feel like this would be a great album to feature in a film (don’t know if it does). Need to finish tomorrow. 3/5

Listened to the best of because the full one is way to long. 2.5 per track, the comments here are overhyped.

Hit me at the wrong time/mood I think.

Nice jazz, with a killer voice

Great arrangements. Have heard Frank’s versions of these songs. What a voice. Hate auto tune, glad it wasn’t around back then.

This was good. Everything about it was just a little too clean for my tastes. I would enjoy listening to it again - but won’t seek it out.

Such a pretty voice. Gershwin must have loved hearing her sing his songs.

very pleasant listening

Foggy Day: yah S’wonderful and Fascinating Rhythm: nah Boy am I glad I didn’t embark on some 52 song YouTube vision quest like that other guy

Big band's enjoyable, Ella's an excellent singer, but not a fan of the lyrics for the most part. Showtunes aren't my jam.

lovely voice, very big sounds, classic in nature but so tonally similar from start to end, hard to pick out anything distinct. although "oh lady be good" kinda stands out for me. should revisit if ever there is time

There were some fun familiar songs. I enjoyed most of it, but to sure I'd return to the whole album. I appreciated the 'different' music.

so very long, but it was ok. I did get very tired of it by the end 5/10

I sadly have to admit that I am a sucker for 50’s doo-wop. This album is packed with that happy 50’s feel, and I enjoyed listening. Favorite song: I got rhythm Least favorite: The man I love

Not my cup of tea, but amazing in its own right.

Easy listen, though I found some of the songs to somewhat blend together. Wish the band took a larger role in her songs as she sounded great with them supporting her. Best song: Love Is Here To Stay Worst Song: N/A

I started out thinking this would be an easy four stars - clearly really good but I’d take a star off for not being my sort of thing or only wanting to play it occasionally. But as it went on I got bored. I think it’s the strings. I have this problem with a lot of the jazz I WANT to like. Wes Montgomery records are a good example. I’m excited to hear the guitar playing and the band but the whole thing is smothered in a schmutz of saccharine strings. I like it (or can bear it) for a song or two but a whole album of it is too much. It strikes me as the sort of thing where you could take a few songs and mix them up in a compilation of other music and I would appreciate each song on it’s own. But strings all the time is too many strings. I prefer having a bit space to hear the voice and the band. For example I recently bought a Wes Montgomery LIVE album so I could be reasonably sure there’s no strings on it. Anyway. I think I’ve made my point. Too many strings! Give us a song or few without strings as a break, or at least a less sickly sweet arrangement and I might have liked the album a lot more.

This is like the fine china figurines kept in glass cabinets in your Grandma's house - can admire the artistry but just don't want to touch and don't understand the attraction.

Lite mjäkigt faktiskt, bra men inte superintressant.

Jazz A bit boring

What a vocalist!

Ella can sing incredibly well. But this album isn't something I'd listen to more than once.

This was great, but not for 3 hours.

Similar vibes to Sarah Vaughn, bit more major big band sound though

Peak 50’s crooning

Beautiful expressive voice on top of accompanying classical orchestra. She sings gently and assertively, accomplishing both sides. Many great renditions on here. I didn't find anything laughably bad, but there were parts where I felt her vocal performance was weak, as if both she and the band had enough and weren't giving it their all. Some tracks have the orchestra stick out, but most of it is just adapting to the mood that Fitzgerald conveys by filling the space, which I find boring and repetitive. I found joy in the novelty tracks that have character, but at the expense of messiness. I list the ones on each disc that stick out to me the most to make it easier for me on successive listens. Disc 1: Sam and Delilah, But Not For Me, My One and Only, Nice Work If You Can Get It, Just Another Rhumba Disc 2: 'S Wonderful, By Strauss, Someone to Watch Over Me, Real American Folk Song Disc 3: A Foggy Day, Stiff Upper Lip, Strike Up the Band Disc 4: The Half of It, Drearie Blues, He Loves and She Loves, Love is Here to Stay, Slap That Bass Disc 5: Embraceable You, Boy What Love Has Done to Me, Fascinating Rhythm

Damn, she can really sing! very mellow album, it's "nice" but didn't blow me away

The symphonic instrumentals and the big band era sounds were very nice. Hard for me to personally rate it higher than a 3/5 but I could see it being a big hit with fans of the genre. Ella's voice is simply amazing as well!

Beautiful but boring. This sounded like Italian restaurant music.

This is a difficult one to rate. As a comprehensive series of Gershwin recordings, it’s exceptional - incredibly detailed with fantastic arrangements, and Fitzgerald sounds so good on every single track. However as an album it doesn’t really work - it’s far too long and has no flow, and does feel tiring by disc three even though each individual song is expertly done. Not a problem with the work, just a problem with the categorisation.

Ella had an amazing voice ... but the style of music shows its age. Dull. Dull. Dull.

But not for me...

3.5

Was alright but maybe not entirely my bag

Ella er smooth. Gott stöff sem flæðir mjög fallega. Hentar vel í dimma rándýra veitingastaði, búbblubaðið og kósítime. Setti þetta á í bílnum til að svæfa Bjarma, en hann var svo imponeraður að hann bara gapti og svaf ekki neitt. Ég aftur á móti svaf værum svefni og nú erum við bíllausir. Takk Ella. Þrjár og hálf stjarna. Þessi verk ná Ellu ekki upp úr 2. gír.

Ósköp þægileg skammdegistónlist, svo lítið jólaleg. Ella er frábær söngkona, en þessi lög reyna ekki nóg á hana. Tónlistarflutningurinn óaðfinnanlegur.

3.6 - That this album would be impeccably produced and performed seems like a foregone conclusion. Naturally when you take the most fêted jazz vocalist of all time, and back her with the most accomplished studio musicians of the day, it’s bound to be a slam dunk. Having said all this, the question I keep thinking about is, would I ever actually choose to listen to this album? Like, voluntarily? I mean…maybe? Maybe if I were to host a holiday brunch with my in-laws and wanted some bright and cheerful alternative to Christmas music playing in the background? Or if I needed something calm to play in the car when I pick up the kids from a particularly raucous birthday party? Side note: Good Lord, Ella absolutely slays “Embraceable You.”

Couple good songs

She has a beautiful voice but I didn’t find myself loving any of this album.

ella's voice is like velvet. it's hard to separate the voice from the compositions because her vocal cords carry the ones that i'm less inclined to like, but proper band jazz covers of gershwin are nice to listen to anyway even if i'm not a great fan of the pieces themselves. its quite easy to let jazz music (whether instrumental or vocal) fade into the background of whatever you're doing but to focus on this is a delightful and very calming thing to do. some of the songs are a bit less memorable than the others, some much less memorable. some are great (i got rhythm) (the man i love). felt very autumnal. i love ella fitzgerald's voice so much.

An undeniably beautiful voice. I felt like I was in the land of snow white

Ella Fitzgerald was wonderful, but I just don't think I like Gershwin all that much. Not a whole album's worth, at any rate.

C+ Sam and Delilah 3 But Not for Me 4 My One and Only 3 Let's Call the Whole Thing Off 3 (I've Got) Beginner's Luck 3 Oh, Lady Be Good! 3 Nice Work If You Can Get It 3 Things Are Looking Up 3 Just Another Rhumba 3 How Long Has This Been Going On? 2 S Wonderful 3 The Man I Love 4 That Certain Feeling 3 By Strauss 3 Someone to Watch Over Me 4 The Real American Folk Song (is a Rag) 2 Who Cares? 3 Looking for a Boy 3 They All Laughed 2 My Cousin in Milwaukee 2 Somebody from Somewhere 3 A Foggy Day 3 Clap Yo' Hands 2 For You, For Me, For Evermore 3 Stiff Upper Lip 2 Boy Wanted 3 Strike Up the Band 3 Soon 3 I've Got a Crush on You 3 Bidin' My Time 3 Aren't You Kind of Glad We Did? 3 Of Thee I Sing (Baby) 4 The Half of It, Dearie' Blues 3 I Was Doing All Right 2 He Loves and She Loves 4 Love Is Sweeping the Country 4 Treat Me Rough 3 Our Love Is Here to Stay 3 Slap That Bass 3 Isn't It a Pity? 4 Shall We Dance? 3 Love Walked In 3 You've Got What Gets Me 3 They Can't Take That Away from Me 3 Embraceable You 3 I Can't Be Bothered Now 3 Boy! What Love Has Done to Me! 3 Fascinating Rhythm 3 Funny Face 3 The Lorelei 3 Oh, So Nice! 3 Let's Kiss and Make Up 3 I Got Rhythm 3 Promenade (Walking the Dog) 3 March of the Swiss Soldiers 3 Fidgety Feet 2 Prelude I 3 Prelude II 3 Prelude III* 3 It took nearly 12 hours, but I thoroughly listened to this bad boy. There are some pretty ones in this. Her voice combined with Gershwin's music was always going to be good.

Three hours 6 discs too much

Okay, so three hours of Ella Fitzgerald is meant to be a great use of time, her voice is majestic and oozes personality and swagger and delicateness and everything else, and it works with so many styles and settings. There's just far too much content here, the distilled version is fine, if you're evaluating it off just that then you get a 4, but the fact the original and main item on the list is the full 3 hour slog means it gets docked a mark, because that's just too much of anything, however good she is.

A little slow for me at times, but her voice truly is one of a kind. Would work well in certain scenarios. 3/5 Might listen again.

Pas pire. Transporté dans une autre époque, excellente atmosphere. Catégorie musique de background.

If someone’s gonna sing me show tunes let it be Ella. Just wish I was a fan of show tunes out of the context of shows.

Created a nice mood. Good for setting, but I didn't love it specifically.

Aivan hirvittän pitkä kokonaisuus, eihän tätä oikeasti jaksa päivässä kuunnella. Ihan mukavia ja meneviä biisejä välissä, osa taas tylsiä. Ellan ääni kyllä on miellyttävä kuunnella.

Quality of course, but it doesn't really touch me

Pretty decent background music

Really good elevator or dinner music. Incredible vocals and instruments, old timey gold

How many song should an album have? all of them is apparently the answer to this question, my fucking god. might be the music of the songbook being from the 20's-30's that I didn't really connect with 90% of them but they weren't horrible and her voice is nice.

Really not my type of music but I can appreciate the quality of the work. Lovely to listen on a Sunday afternoon.

classic soul. all kinda starts sounding the same. obviously any given track is pretty, but I'd be hard pressed to pick a "favorite" off this one.

great songs, great voice, but Nelson Riddle takes a huge dump over almost every song

2.5/5. Relaxing but not my thing.

Ella had a legendary voice, and the songs I listened to sound great, but sorry, a 3-hour album I cannot do. So, 3 stars for 3 hours.

Fine. A bit boring.

Best Song: Let's Call the Whole Thing Off. It just feels very playful, especially the part about "calling the calling off off". Worst Song: Just Another Rhumba. Overly long, and the schtick of tossing an "-a" on the end of every word to fit the rhyme is annoying from the onset. Overall: Real odd inclusion into this list. 3 hours of music feels impossible to compare against the other conventional-length albums. It kind of feels like the author knew they needed to give flowers to Fitzgerald, but didn't know enough of her catalogue to narrow it down and therefore picked the largest project she had. Nevertheless, the music is fine to listen to. Obviously Fitzgerald has a great voice, and many of the songs are quite fun (but, due to sheer volume, many are also quite dull). I can't imagine that even Ella herself intended these 3 hours to be listened to at once or viewed as a single, immutable album.

She had a fantastic voice, I'm just not into jazz with vocals.

Oof, I like Ella, but 3 hours long...not going to listen to the whole thing, so I listened to the 44 minute "very best of" version. Classic sound. 3.5/5

Great voice and presence

3 hours lol

There was no way I was ever going to listen to the full 3 hours of this, but the best of seemed a sufficient exposure. Not my thing, but I'm going with 3 stars as it's quality stuff I don't like, which is better than poorly done stuff I don't like I guess.

Great singing, decent songs. Nothing really stuck with me.

not super into this era of big band jazz but she has a great voice

Love Ella but there are better albums

Kinda meh, some nice songs.

Not really the type of music I'd go out of my way to listen to but good. Made me think of Fallout.

Classic

not too bad to be honest

One of the most beautiful voices of all time but Gershwin is just boring unfortunately

Long, but then there’s a lot to include! Not a jazz fan but she is phenomenal.

Het is prima!

I like this era, and love Ella Fitzgerald’s voice, but these songs were too slow for me to get super into.

wonderful voice, but mostly showtunes

It's a bit of a disservice to Ella Fitzgerald that a compilation of otherwise well-known songs is among her featured work here, because some people will inevitably compare her versions to that of others. That's not to say that these songs aren't lovely - because they are. And she sounds beautiful. But for some of these songs there are stronger, or at the very least more memorable versions floating around. 'S Wonderful is better when it's Gene Kelly and Georges Guétary performing it in An American in Paris for example, while Someone to Watch Over Me sounds suprerior when coming from Frank Sinatra. Maybe this is an observation that better fits the entire jazz and soul landscape of pre-1970 though, so I digress. Like I said, Ella Fitzgerald sounds lovely and her tender, buttery voice puts a warm blanket over these songs like no other vocalist can. I would love to listen to this again during a rainy afternoon, after digging up some of my grandparents' old photo albums. I also imagine myself sitting in a 1950's jazz bar, in the scene of a classic film. The record is great. It's evocative of all these memories and emotions, and it's a show of the amazing talent and body of work by both Fitzgerald and the Gershwin brothers. Just those unavoidable comparisons are getting to me - but I guess that's more of a me problem.

I love Ella Fitzgerald's voice, but 4 hrs 13 mins is insane for an album

Pretty and sad. Jazzy. A sleepy album, 3 stars. Just a little too slow for a workday.

Noh, kuuntelin sitten koko 3h15min setin. Vikat 6 kappalettakin vaikka ne ei varmaan tähän settiin kuuluiskaan. Eipä tässä hulluks ainakaan tullut, kai se kertoo jotain. Mutta vähänhän nuo kappaleet muussaantuu yhteen ja kuullosta suht samalta. Olisi sit voinut kuiteskin huonompaakin musiikkia 3h kuunnella. Meni kuiteskin aika letkeästi aika. Tämmöstä perinteistä elokuva Las Vegas/New Vegas vokaalijazzia. Sanoitukset ajoittain aika meh Treat Me Rough kappaleessa oikeesti sanotaan "Keep on beatin' me". Ok Davie hyväksyy Slap That Bass kappaleen

I'm not really into the 50's music, but I think Ella Fitzgerald and Frank Sinatra are on the same level of talent, passion and commitment.

Maybe I just wasn’t in the mood for this today … found it quite boring

"I never knew how good our songs were until I heard Ella Fitzgerald sing them". - Ira Gershwin. With a grace and elegance that only a rarefied few could have, Ella Fitzgerald put her stamp on some of the most important song catalogs in music and not only defined them but turned them into the American staples they were meant to be. There should be neither a doubt nor a question as to how and why they are considered The Great American Songbook; have a listen to Love is Here to Stay and But Not for Me back to back and you'll be completely convinced. Arguably the peak of Ella's career. Favorites: I Got Rhythm, Nice Work If You Can Get It, The Man I Love, Love is Here to Stay, But Not for Me, A Foggy Day, Fascinating Rhythm, Embraceable You.

Her voice is unreal, but 3+ hours is a LONG time to listen to very similar songs. 3/5

This album is long af, pretty decent though. Fitzgerald's voice is soothing and lovely.

Really solid. She has an absolutely angelic voice, and Gershwin is obviously a legendary songwriter. She does all of his works justice (I listened to the truncated best of version, rather than the complete 3 hour edition). I’m sure there’s stinkers on the larger compilation, but the best of was all killer no filler. What brings it down is that they’re incredible performances of the songs, but lack a bit of the emotionality that’s resonant in other renditions such as Chet Baker’s that I am more drawn to. However, for those that enjoy straight vocal jazz, it doesn’t get much better than this. Just not particularly my taste most of the time.

Beautiful singing, nice relaxing album.

Ella has a great voice and the songs are great but not for me.

Pleasant enough. Amazing voice, great tunes - the album lives up to the billing. What else can I say?

Ella doing what she does best. Really the Janis of her time, or Janis was the Ella of her time.

Very calming album which was great to listen to while working. Ella is a great singer and the lyrics were pretty good. I laughed at the words in Let's Call the Whole Thing Off

Let's Call The Whole Thing Off is great. Love that she uses the Baltimore accent for oysters (errsters) in it. This was a very calming album to listen to in the morning while getting some work done. I admittedly didn't listen to all 3 hours (wtf???) but I will at some point.

Ella has a beautiful, gorgeous voice with a ton of richness to it. It was worth listening to the entire album for that alone. Some of the big band numbers were good, but a little repetitive. The more moody, softer songs were the highlights for me.

Sounds decent, very 50s easy listening, moderately enjoyable if it's outside your wheelhouse

smooooooooooo00000000000000000000000000oooooooooooooooth

Definitely would not be able to make it through the full version, but I think that has more to do with my lack of interest and not the quality. It's fine and cool to have gotten a glimpse into, but happy to see what else is to come.

I probably wouldn't listen again. This is an album that probably best represents this era of music and is included so the 50's are represented.

Je l’écouterais plus tard, pas dans le mood

Some are classics. Amazing voice. Too many songs.

Very nice.

Ella Fitzgerald's voice is a magic spell that makes you believe in love again.

Pleasant voice and a few songs I enjoyed. But overall found myself a bit bored

ella is great big band, jazzy, beautiful, dark. still not my vibes, too symphonic, too morose. but its good, and through no fault of her own it just doesnt do it for me.

Ella is an all-timer. She has a marvelous and soulful voice that can carry so very much emotion. I don't think that was highlighted with this album. I like the Gershwin songs and I think she did a technically fantastic job of singing them, but technical excellence isn't why I listen to Ella. Give me some of the Louis or Duke collabs any day. Someone to Watch Over Me was a highlight for sure.

I enjoyed it but wouldn't seek it out.

It’s great on occasion but descent anytime

This is perfect music for a dinner party. Ella is a great singer but this is too much. I don’t think box sets should be on this list.

i liked this album. brought me back in time. pre internet era

Meh, not my style

Again, the Jazz thing isn't for me. Probably a great album.

So every song here just reminds me of different movies that have used these songs. Gershwin songs are standards and so memorable, but there's no doubt they can be elevated by the right voice. I mean - she's got a voice that can't be mistaken, and it is on full display here with these songs that take a back seat in a way to her skill at vocalizing. All that being said, this is a sleepy album, one that is comforting, jazzy, and sweet, but a glorified cover album in a way. I'm not bothered by this at all, and at times, it is heartbreaking and beautiful. However, these songs feel like they are missing an element of performance that the songs and the singer are known for.

Amazing voice!